How to Carry Your Cross (Matthew 16:24-28; Mark 8:34–9:1; Luke 9:23-27)

What if your biggest spiritual struggle is not a lack of information, but too many voices competing for control? We open with a vivid picture: your life as a corporate boardroom, packed with “selves” that debate everything from comfort to ambition to reputation. Many of us try to follow Jesus by giving him a seat at the table, but we still let the rest of the committee vote. The call of Christ is sharper and freer than that: he takes over, and there is only one vote.

From Luke 9:23-27, we walk through what Jesus actually means by deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me. We address a common confusion that turns this passage into a checklist to prove you are saved, which can quietly slide into a faith-plus-works mindset and leave tender consciences anxious. The focus here is consecration, not salvation: how a believer lives with surrendered loyalty in ordinary days filled with new temptations, new pressures, and new chances to either follow Christ’s lead or negotiate with self.

We also look ahead to future accountability at the judgment seat of Christ, the Bema seat, where our lives are assessed for reward, not for entry into heaven. That coming day strengthens courage today, especially when you are tempted to feel ashamed of Jesus or stay silent when the gospel is ridiculed. If you want practical discipleship anchored in grace, listen now, then subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review that helps more people find the show.

Learn more about twenty-five years of global impact, and reserve tickets to our gala. https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/25

Learn more at https://www.wisdomonline.org/

Transcript

The Boardroom Of Self

SPEAKER_00 0:44

I want you to imagine your life for a moment in terms of a corporate boardroom there in some powerful corporation. You got this long table surrounded with leather chairs in the executive boardroom. There's an executive committee of important people seated around that table, and each member represents a different aspect in your life. For instance, you have seated there your private self. In another chair is your work self, your moral self, your recreational self, your relational self, your financial self, and so on. This is the boardroom of yourself. Now, most of the time there's conflict in that boardroom as decisions are made. Not every member agrees with one another. There's a lot of debate and argument, and eventually, though, there's a vote. It's typically not a unanimous vote, but the majority opinion rules. You know, I think the average person today thinks that following Jesus means you invite him to sit on that executive committee. You give Jesus a seat at the table. Maybe you even put him at the head of the table. You make him the chairman, and you give him a vote too. The truth is, beloved, the biblical perspective for a follower of Jesus Christ is that Jesus comes into that boardroom of yourself and fires every member of the committee. You see, being a consecrated disciple means saying to the Lord every day, there's only one vote, and Lord, that vote belongs to you. You run every area

Jesus Gets The Only Vote

SPEAKER_00 2:39

of self, every area of my life. Well, now the Lord has just informed his disciples of some news that doesn't exactly fit with the direction of the executive committee of disciples. Jesus told them that he would be rejected and killed and then resurrected three days later. And Matthew's account tells us that Peter, you know, he's sort of the committee chairman. He steps forward and tells the Lord that he's not going to vote for that. The other disciples, well, they're not going to vote for it either. Well, after the Lord rebukes Peter, they're all reminded that his mission really isn't up for a vote. And with that the Lord now delivers even more surprising news. Without any apparent transition, he continues, and we're here for today's lesson in Luke chapter nine, he says here in verse twenty three, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed

Consecration Versus Salvation Confusion

SPEAKER_00 4:04

when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Now I've got to tell you that I'm a little surprised by some theologians and pastors whom I greatly respect, people who hold to the doctrine of justification by faith alone. They come to a passage like this and effectively turn salvation into justification by faith plus works. Now they don't they don't come out and say it that way, but they use this passage as a as a checklist for genuine salvation. In other words, if you're ever ashamed of the Lord, well, you're probably not saved. Or if if you're not willing to deny yourself at times, you're probably not saved. Or if you don't pick up your cross daily, you're probably not saved. If you're not willing to die for Christ at any moment, well, you're probably not saved either. Well, a passage like this then becomes a club that keeps Christians fearful, that perhaps they're not measuring up. Well, first of all, beloved, the context here is not salvation, it's consecration. He's just informed his disciples that he's going to be killed. More than likely he's told them it'll be the way of crucifixion, because he now talks to them about their own cross to bear. In other words, Jesus is now informing them that their lives aren't going to be represented by a crown, but by a cross. Now keep in mind, Jesus tells them to do something daily. Take up your cross daily. So, according to many, if on any given day you don't take up your cross, well, you either lost your salvation or you never had it to begin with. This kind of what I call graceless interpretation leads the believer to introspection and insecurity. And let me tell you, the conscientious believer is always led into discouragement because you just don't faithfully do it every day. Well, let me tell you, beloved, Jesus is not talking here about how to become a believer or how to even prove you're a believer. He's telling us how to live like a believer ought to be living. Warren Wearsby put it so well when he wrote on this text

Humility And The Daily Cross

SPEAKER_00 6:23

that Jesus isn't talking about sonship. He's talking about discipleship. So what does it mean to carry your cross? Well, I'll tell you what it means. It means living a consecrated life. And here's how you do it. First, it's going to involve an attitude of humility. Again, Jesus says here in verse 23, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself. Now, denying yourself doesn't mean depriving yourself of good desires and good things. Denying yourself means you surrender that self-centered life for a Christ-centered life. And that's going to demand humility because we'd really rather have the world revolve around us. Secondly, a consecrated life involves a daily priority, Jesus says here. Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. Well, taking up your cross daily is saying to the Lord, Lord, there's only one vote today on how I live my life. And I want you to know you have the only vote. The vote is all yours. This needs to be a daily priority. Why? Well, because you're going to face new challenges every day. On any given day, you're going to have new people come into your life. You're going to have new problems. You're going to have new forms of persecution. You might even have brand new temptations. Now, by the way, Jesus says something so obvious here that we easily miss it. He says, Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. That word follow means you get behind somebody and you travel along in the same direction. So don't miss what's so obvious. To follow Christ means he's determining the direction. If the Lord's doing the driving, and he ought to be, well that means we're traveling at his speed. Sometimes the Lord picks up the pace and we struggle to keep up. Sometimes he slows way down, too slow for our liking. But he's in the driver's seat, and there are no back seat drivers, by the

Future Accountability And Bold Witness

SPEAKER_00 8:47

way. Well now the Lord delivers one more aspect of a consecrated life, and here it is. Thirdly, a consecrated life remembers a future accountability. In other words, we're not going to forget what's coming next or in the future, Jesus says here in verse twenty six, for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him will the Son of Man be ashamed. By the way, Jesus doesn't say the Son of Man will be finished with him or the Son of Man will reject him. No, he says the Son of Man will be ashamed of him. There's a coming day of accountability for every believer. It's called the judgment seat, the Bima seat of Christ. Now that judgment isn't to find out if you get into heaven. It's going to assess how you lived on earth in light of heaven. See, that Bima seat will be a time of great gladness where we'll be rewarded, but also sadness. Sadness over what we didn't do for Christ when we voted Christ down. There'll be great gladness because every faithful act of service to the Lord will be rewarded no matter what it is. So keep that in mind. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Don't back down if you're ridiculed or rejected. Ask Jesus for courage, for courage to identify with him. Ask him for that today, as you tell others about him. Now with that, Jesus makes this interesting statement here in verse twenty seven. There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Well now I believe that that refers to a little foretaste of the kingdom. And it's going to be given to three disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. That's described in the following verses, and we'll pick that up next time on our wisdom journey. In the meantime, how do you carry your cross? How do you live a consecrated life with humility, with priority,

Fire The Board And Follow

SPEAKER_00 11:00

and with a sense of remembering that future accountability? So in the meantime, and maybe even today, make sure you go into that boardroom of your heart. You ought to do it every morning, and just you know, just fire all the board members on that committee of self and restate to Jesus there's only one vote that's going to count on how I live my life today. And Lord, that vote belongs to you alone. Well, until our next wisdom journey, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.